diff --git a/docs/guide-en.html b/docs/guide-en.html index 9fd60fb..265f08a 100644 --- a/docs/guide-en.html +++ b/docs/guide-en.html @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> - + CQ-80 Terminal Replica DIY Guide @@ -202,30 +202,30 @@

CQ-80 Terminal Replica DIY Guide

Table of Contents

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1. Overview

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+

1. Overview

The CQ-80 replica is made of 3d-printed parts and (mostly) off-the-shelf electronic parts. The electronics allow it to connect to a computer via Bluetooth and control music playback. (It’s possible to exclude electronics, see below.) @@ -238,20 +238,24 @@

1. Overview

Disclaimer: I’m an utter armature on 3d modeling, electronics and model painting. So dispite my best effort, there are short-comings all over the place. If you have any suggestion/feedback, I appreciate them very much.

+ +

+NOTE!! The v3.0 (the latest) 3D models doesn’t match some of the photos below (taken from a v2.1 model), because I’ve made updates to the model but haven’t printed them yet (because reasons). But those changes are mostly minor, so it shouldn’t be a problem. +

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2. Download files

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+

2. Download files

-Download model and PCB files from here: TODO (it just links to the GitHub release). Unpack it and you should see one directory, stl, and two zip files, board.zip, usb_breakout.zip. The stl directory contains 3d model files, and board.zip and usb_breakout.zip are files for printing the PCB board. Their use are explained as we go through each step. +Download model and PCB files from here: TODO (it just links to the GitHub release). Unpack it and you should see two directory, stl ad controller, and two zip files, board.zip, usb_breakout.zip. The stl directory contains 3d model files; the controller directory is the Arduino program, and board.zip and usb_breakout.zip are files for printing the PCB board. Their use are explained as we go through each step.

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3. 3d-printed parts

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3. 3d-printed parts

There are eight parts: the top and bottom shells, thumbstick and thumbstick guard, front bar, left and right side bars, the trademark insert on the top, and the hanger at the tail. The 3d model files for them are in the stl folder. I combined smaller parts together into a single file, so you only need to print three main parts: the top shell, the bottom shell, and the small parts combined. @@ -262,7 +266,7 @@

3. 3d-printed parts -
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parts-expl.jpeg

Figure 1: 3d-printed parts and their canonical name

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3. 3d-printed parts

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4. Fitting the parts

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4. Fitting the parts

Once you receive the parts, you need to sand/file them a bit here and their so everything fits together. The fitting in the digital model is pretty tight, since you can always sand down tight fits but it’s really hard to fix a loose fit. @@ -295,15 +299,15 @@

4. Fitting the parts

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5. Install threaded inserts to the printed parts

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5. Install threaded inserts to the printed parts

Out of the eight parts, top and bottom shell are fastened together by two screws, thumbstick guard and hanger are glued to the top shell, and trademark insert and side bars are friction-fit. The PCB board and USB breakout board are screwed into the bottom shell.

-Therefore, we need to install threaded inserts to top and bottom shells. The parts are designed to use M2 screws and M2 threaded inserts. Here is a tutorial on installing heat-set inserts: Using Heat Set Inserts. You need iron and heat-set insert tip (or just the iron tip, it works ok). Do not press too hard when installing threaded inserts: the resin is strong but brittle, and is heat-resistant, so pressing too hard will break it. Be patient and press it in little by little. +Therefore, we need to install threaded inserts to top and bottom shells. The parts are designed to use M2 screws and M2 threaded inserts. Here is a tutorial on installing heat-set inserts: Using Heat Set Inserts. You need iron and heat-set insert tip (or just the iron tip, it works ok). Do not press too hard when installing threaded inserts: the resin is strong but brittle, and is heat-resistant, so pressing too hard will break it. Be patient and press it in little by little.

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5. Install threaded in

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top-expl.jpeg

Figure 2: Top shell

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bottom-expl.jpeg

Figure 3: Bottom shell

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5. Install threaded in

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6. Uploading the program to the microcontroller

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6. Uploading the program to the microcontroller

-You need a computer, a micro-usb cable and the Adafruit microcontroller. +You need a computer, a micro-usb cable and the Adafruit microcontroller.

    @@ -341,8 +345,8 @@

    6. Uploading the progr

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7. Printing PCB boards

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7. Printing PCB boards

There are two boards to print, the main board (board.zip) and the USB breakout board (usb_breakout.zip). I used OSHPARK to print PCB boards. There are cheaper providers that I haven’t tried like pcbway and jlcpcb. @@ -354,21 +358,21 @@

7. Printing PCB boards

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8. Soldering electronic parts

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8. Soldering electronic parts

Test before soldering any parts! Test that the LED’s and resistors work! You’ll be in a world of pain if you find out a resister is bad after you’ve soldered it to the board.

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  1. Solder the microcontroller to the main board
    2. -
  2. Solder the joystick to the main board (you need to clip the two nubs under the joystick part because I forgot to create holes on the pcb board design)
    3. -
  3. Solder the USB female connector to the USB breakout board
    4. -
  4. Connect the USB breakout board to the micro-USB connector (the square hole on the breakout is ground)
    5. -
  5. Solder resistors to the main board (for the LED’s anything around 100ω is fine, for the battery detection, use something large like 10kω)
    6. -
  6. Solder header pins for the LED’s to the main board
    7. -
  7. Solder some jumper wires to the LED’s and connect them to the header pins on the main board.
    8. +
  8. Solder the microcontroller to the main board
    9. +
  9. Solder the joystick to the main board (you need to clip the two nubs under the joystick part because I forgot to create holes on the pcb board design)
    10. +
  10. Solder the USB female connector to the USB breakout board
    11. +
  11. Connect the USB breakout board to the micro-USB connector (the square hole on the breakout is ground)
    12. +
  12. Solder resistors to the main board (for the LED’s anything around 100ω is fine, for the battery detection, use something large like 10kω)
    13. +
  13. Solder header pins for the LED’s to the main board
    14. +
  14. Solder some jumper wires to the LED’s and connect them to the header pins on the main board.

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8. Soldering electroni

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board-expl.jpeg

Figure 4: Main board

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usb-expl.jpeg

Figure 5: USB board.

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8. Soldering electroni

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9. Painting the parts

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9. Painting the parts

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9.1. Materials

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9.1. Materials

-I don’t have aerospray so I hand-painted the parts. I tried to use paints that are allegedly friendly to hand-painting. You can find a list of the paints I used below in the painting section. +I don’t have aerospray so I hand-painted the parts. I tried to use paints that are allegedly friendly to hand-painting. You can find a list of the paints I used below in the painting section.

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9.1. Materials

-I used Pallid Wych Flesh (off-white) for the primary color of the top shell, and Pallid Wych Flesh mixing in a little bit Rakarth Flesh (brownish) for the bottom shell and the alt color on the top shell. For the violet red color (thumbstick, etc), I mixed Violet Red plus a little bit of Carmine Red. Carmine Red is probably optional, if you don’t mind your thumbstick to be a bit more purple than the official one. +I used Pallid Wych Flesh (off-white) for the primary color of the top shell, and Pallid Wych Flesh mixing in a little bit Rakarth Flesh (brownish) for the bottom shell and the alt color on the top shell. For the violet red color (thumbstick, etc), I mixed Violet Red plus a little bit of Carmine Red. Carmine Red is probably optional, if you don’t mind your thumbstick to be a bit more purple than the official one.

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9.1. Materials

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9.2. Steps for painting

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9.2. Steps for painting

I learned this from watching accumulatively ~4.78 hrs of gunpla and 3d printing videos on YouTube, so don’t take my word for everything.

-But anyway, you need to first fill the gaps like print-lines or other imperfections with acrylic putty, then sand the surfaces smooth. It should be very smooth to the touch, because any small imperfections you can’t see right now will show when you put on paint. You can get some sanding sponge which are very handy when sanding small models like this (you can find them at a local hobby store). I suggest you leave the putty to dry for at least a couple hours, ideally overnight, before sanding. Just casually put on some putty, let it dry, sand it next day, add more putty if necessary, and repeat. Take it slow and easy. Don’t rush it or get it done in one afternoon. This advice applies to the following steps as well. +But anyway, you need to first fill the gaps like print-lines or other imperfections with acrylic putty, then sand the surfaces smooth. It should be very smooth to the touch, because any small imperfections you can’t see right now will show when you put on paint. You can get some sanding sponge which are very handy when sanding small models like this (you can find them at a local hobby store). I suggest you leave the putty to dry for at least a couple hours, ideally overnight, before sanding. Just casually put on some putty, let it dry, sand it next day, add more putty if necessary, and repeat. Take it slow and easy. Don’t rush it or get it done in one afternoon. This advice applies to the following steps as well.

-Once the surface is smooth, prime your parts with a light grey primer. For grey parts this is all they need. For other parts, the next step is to apply paint. +Once the surface is smooth, prime your parts with a light grey primer. For grey parts this is all they need. For other parts, the next step is to apply paint.

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9.2. Steps for paintin

-Finally, let the paint dry for a couple of hours and spray all the parts with a layer or two of clear top-coat to protect the paint. I used gloss top-coat because the in-game render seems to be glossy. And the end result is indeed very nice. If you want, you can use flat or half-gloss top-coat. After applying the top-coat, I suggest you to leave it along for at least a couple hours, ideally a day before touching it. +Finally, let the paint dry for a couple of hours and spray all the parts with a layer or two of clear top-coat to protect the paint. I used gloss top-coat because the in-game render seems to be glossy. And the end result is indeed very nice. If you want, you can use flat or half-gloss top-coat. After applying the top-coat, I suggest you to leave it along for at least a couple hours, ideally a day before touching it.

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10. Assembly

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10. Assembly

Bottom shell: @@ -488,14 +492,14 @@

10. Assembly

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assemble-bottom-1.jpeg

Figure 6: Installing the USB breakout board. Technically you only need to connect the +5 and GND pins, like I did here. These two pins allows you to charge the battery through the USB port. But if you connect all four pins, you can use the USB port for uploading programs as well.

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assemble-bottom-2.jpeg

Figure 7: Installing the main board.

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10. Assembly

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11. Caring

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11. Caring

Even though we sprayed a protective top-coat, the paint is still easily damaged: I’ve had small dents on the CQ-80 that are deep enough to reveal underling primer. I guess spray painitng will give you a thinner and more robust paint, I’m also contemplating on using auto top-coats, I’ll report back with the result. @@ -516,58 +520,58 @@

11. Caring

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12. If you don’t want the electronics

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12. If you don’t want the electronics

-It should be quite feasible to do away all the electronics, should you only want the plastic model and don’t care about the music controller functionality. It’ll also cut the cost by a lot. You still need the joystick, just glue it to a cardboard or something, and glue the cardboard to the pole right under the joystick. I’d also reinforce the pole, eg, smudge a pile of hot glue around it. +It should be quite feasible to do away all the electronics, should you only want the plastic model and don’t care about the music controller functionality. It’ll also cut the cost by a lot. You still need the joystick, just glue it to a cardboard or something, and glue the cardboard to the pole right under the joystick. I’d also reinforce the pole, eg, smudge a pile of hot glue around it.

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13. Parts listing

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13. Parts listing

3d-printed parts (in the stl folder):

    -
  • Top shell
    • -
  • Bottom shell
    • -
  • Thumbstick
    • -
  • Thumbstick guard
    • -
  • Front bar
    • -
  • Side bars
    • -
  • Trademark insert
    • -
  • Hanger
    • +
  • Top shell
    • +
  • Bottom shell
    • +
  • Thumbstick
    • +
  • Thumbstick guard
    • +
  • Front bar
    • +
  • Side bars
    • +
  • Trademark insert
    • +
  • Hanger

Mechanical parts:

    -
  • M21 screws (8mm in length) × 4
    • +
  • M21 screws (8mm in length) × 4
  • M2 screws (4mm) × 4
    • -
  • Heat-set2 M2 threaded inserts (4mm × 3.5mm) (length × outer diameter) × 8
    • +
  • Heat-set2 M2 threaded inserts (4mm × 3.5mm) (length × outer diameter) × 8

Printed PCB boards:

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  • Main board (board.zip)
    • -
  • USB breakout (usb_breakout.zip)
    • +
  • Main board (board.zip)
    • +
  • USB breakout (usb_breakout.zip)

Electronic parts:

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13. Parts listing

Electronic consumables:

- + Painting:

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13. Parts listing

Tools:

diff --git a/docs/guide-en.org b/docs/guide-en.org index a0cb67f..3327015 100644 --- a/docs/guide-en.org +++ b/docs/guide-en.org @@ -9,9 +9,11 @@ To make the replica, you need to 3d-print the parts, paint them, buy all the ele Disclaimer: I’m an utter armature on 3d modeling, electronics and model painting. So dispite my best effort, there are short-comings all over the place. If you have any suggestion/feedback, I appreciate them very much. +NOTE!! The v3.0 (the latest) 3D models doesn’t match some of the photos below (taken from a v2.1 model), because I’ve made updates to the model but haven’t printed them yet (because reasons). But those changes are mostly minor, so it shouldn’t be a problem. + * Download files -Download model and PCB files from here: TODO (it just links to the GitHub release). Unpack it and you should see one directory, =stl=, and two zip files, =board.zip=, =usb_breakout.zip=. The =stl= directory contains 3d model files, and =board.zip= and =usb_breakout.zip= are files for printing the PCB board. Their use are explained as we go through each step. +Download model and PCB files from here: TODO (it just links to the GitHub release). Unpack it and you should see two directory, =stl= ad =controller=, and two zip files, =board.zip=, =usb_breakout.zip=. The =stl= directory contains 3d model files; the =controller= directory is the Arduino program, and =board.zip= and =usb_breakout.zip= are files for printing the PCB board. Their use are explained as we go through each step. * 3d-printed parts There are eight parts: the top and bottom shells, thumbstick and thumbstick guard, front bar, left and right side bars, the trademark insert on the top, and the hanger at the tail. The 3d model files for them are in the =stl= folder. I combined smaller parts together into a single file, so you only need to print three main parts: the top shell, the bottom shell, and the small parts combined. diff --git a/docs/index.org b/docs/index.org index a4fae8f..174ac02 100644 --- a/docs/index.org +++ b/docs/index.org @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Custom CQ-80 terminal replica! Not only is it 100% accurate, I also added Bluetooth music playback control feature. The shell is 3d printed, and the electronics are made of off-the-shelf parts. -For a guide on making your own replica, visit: [[https://casouri.github.io/cq-80/][DIY Guide for CQ-80 Replica]]. +For a guide on making your own replica, visit: [[https://casouri.github.io/cq-80/guide-en.html][DIY Guide for CQ-80 Replica]]. #+CAPTION: Top view. The actual color is more grey than in the photo. #+attr_html: :width 100%